The Travelers Companies has agreed to acquire InsuraMatch, a national digital independent insurance agency, from the Plymouth Rock Group of Companies.

Neither side disclosed financial terms.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021 after regulatory approvals. Encharter Insurance, Plymouth Rock’s Massachusetts-based brokerage, will not be included in the transaction.

Founded in 2014 as part of Boston-based insurer Plymouth Rock, InsuraMatch has operated as an autonomous business unit. In 2019, InsuraMatch produced nearly $32 million in premiums.

Travelers said InsuraMatch will continue to operate independently and will manage all of its carrier partnerships.

InsuraMatch is focused on personal insurance, offering auto, home, boat, motorcycle, renters, umbrella and flood, among other coverages. It uses an online platform to help consumers compare offerings from more than 40 carriers across the country. Travelers is among the carriers it compares, along with Progressive, Safeco, American Modern, The Hartford, MetLife Auto & Home, Mercury, Liberty Mutual, National General, Foremost, Hagerty, Neptune, Hippo and others.

In addition to using the online interface, customers can contact InsuraMatch insurance producers by phone for a full product line of property/casualty insurance.

InsuraMatch’s formula is based on proprietary customer research and insurance carrier assessments, Marc Buro, chief executive officer of InsuraMatch, told Insurance Journal in 2015 in discussing its launch. He said InsuraMatch hired a market research firm to survey more than 3,000 insurance customers across the country to measure customer opinions and satisfaction levels on both regional and national insurance companies.

Travelers views this as a technology investment and, according to a spokesperson, hopes, for example, to be able to leverage the InsuraMatch technology to benefit its independent agents who may currently lack the technology to offer real-time quoting.

“We continue to invest in the talent and technology that will allow us to best serve our customers and bring strategic capabilities to our agents and brokers in an increasingly digital environment,” said Michael Klein, executive vice president and president of Personal Insurance at Travelers. “InsuraMatch’s scalable technology platform will complement our efforts to meet customers where they are, give them what they need and serve them how they want.”

Len Mariani, senior vice president of National Markets for Personal Insurance at Travelers, said Travelers hopes to provide Buro’s team with “tools and resources they need to realize the full potential of their offering.”

The move recalls a similar foray into the digital commercial lines space by Travelers. In 2017, Travelers acquired Simply Business from Aquiline Capital Partners for approximately $490 million. Simply Business is a U.K. online seller of small business insurance on behalf of a group of carriers.

Alan Schnitzer, chief executive officer of Travelers, said part of the goal was to share the Simply Business technology with the company’s agents and brokers to make small commercial insurance transactions “easier, faster and more efficient.”

In 2018, Travelers opened a digital storefront on Amazon that offers smart home kits, insurance quotes and risk management information.

Travelers has approximately 30,000 employees and generated revenues of approximately $32 billion in 2019.

Plymouth Rock companies write and manage about $1.6 billion in auto and home insurance premiums across Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

*This story appeared previously in our sister publication Insurance Journal.